E-Paper
The fight for Remdesivir continues
A total of only 250 doses of Remedesivir were supplied to Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC)-run hospitals, whereas as per the civic body’s health department, there are 1,328 critical patients in the city
A total of only 250 doses of Remedesivir were supplied to Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC)-run hospitals, whereas as per the civic body’s health department, there are 1,328 critical patients in the city.
The shortage of Remdesivir injection has left families of critical Covid positive patients in distress.
Speaking on the condition of anonymity, the wife of a 38-year-old Covid patient who is admitted at a PMC-run hospital said that the first dose of Remdesivir was administered to the patient on Tuesday.
“The second dose was given on Thursday, and there is no supply as of now of the injection. In the open market, the drug is not available, and the hospital doesn’t have the injection either. As there were plenty of cases found wherein paracetamol was supplied in the bottles of Remdesivir, we cannot even try to find the medicine in the open market. My husband is critical. I don’t know what to do,” she said.
Dr Madhuri Gare, in charge at Dalvi Hospital in Shivajinagar said that the injection is administered to a critical patient based on various factors.
“The injection is supplied to the hospital by the PMC and until 2 pm, there was no supply. By evening, 40 doses of Remedesivir were allocated to the hospital. There are around 162 patients on oxygen supply and around 10 patients in ICU as on Friday,” said Dr Gare.
Dr Sanjeev Wavare, assistant chief at the health department of the PMC said that there is a shortage of the medicine.
“We have over 1,300 critical patients in PMC and the supply we received on Friday was just 250 injections. As we are getting less doses, we are sending less doses to the hospital as well,” said Dr Wavare.
Due to the acute shortage of the injection that has continued from last few weeks, the district administration has made it mandatory for hospitals to provide the injection to the patient so that the families of the patient do not hunt for the medicine.
As per the district administration, the drug is supplied to the PMC, which in turn allocates the drug to hospitals. On Thursday, 6,400 injections were allocated to hospitals in PMC and Pune rural with a total bed capacity of 10,874. This allocation does not include PMC-run hospitals.
Ahead of the shortage, many cases of selling fake Remdesivir injection also came to the forefront.
